Ogden Honors College senior Marlee Pittman, a native of Baton Rouge, La., has been awarded a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship. She is the first LSU student to receive this prestigious fellowship, and one of three fellows selected for the fall of 2016.

The Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship is a highly competitive national fellowship program that provides recent college and graduate school alumni with the opportunity to gain a Washington perspective on key issues of peace and security. Supported by a salary, fellows spend six to nine months in Washington as full-time junior staff members at the participating organization of their choice.

“The Scoville will place Marlee in truly elite company, and allow her to bring all she’s learned at LSU and abroad to one of our nation’s leading public interest organizations,” said Ogden Honors College Dean Jonathan Earle. “I can’t wait to find out what she decides to do next.”

Pittman, who is graduating this May with College Honors, is a Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College student and political science major with minors in economics and International Studies. She is a 2014 Truman Scholar and has studied or worked in numerous countries abroad, including China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Greece.

“First as a Truman Scholar and now a Scoville Fellow, Marlee has repeatedly impressed national scholars and policy makers with her knowledge of foreign policy issues,” said Office of Fellowship Advising Director Drew Lamonica Arms. “She has sought out international opportunities throughout her undergraduate career, from Malaysia to the Middle East, and she will bring a host of first-hand experiences to her fellowship in Washington. I have no doubt that Marlee Pittman will be an integral part of foreign policy making in the future. She does LSU, the Ogden Honors College and the Office of Fellowship Advising very proud.”

“After making it through six interviews, I am excited that my research and experiences abroad merited this amazing opportunity,” said Pittman. “The Scoville Fellowship will empower me to influence foreign and national security concerns in Washington. It’s an exciting time to be a part of the political process, and I hope to contribute positively to the issues that are embroiling the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

Pittman credits her Honors thesis and current research for preparing her for the fellowship, where she will be researching and writing about the conflict in Syria and potential avenues for resolution. She will be reporting on peace negotiations as they develop as well as the geopolitical relationships between the key stakeholders in the conflict.

“I would like to thank the Ogden Honors College, Dr. Drew Arms, Dean Earle and LSU’s political science department, including Professors Leonard Ray and Benjamin Acosta. I would not have been able to accomplish this without them,” Pittman said.

The Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship was established in 1987 to recruit and train the next generation of policy and advocacy leaders on a range of international peace and security issues by providing recent college graduates with an opportunity to work with one of the participating public-interest organizations in Washington, DC. The fellowship bridges the gap between academia and the working world by providing an entree to socially-conscious people eager to learn about and contribute to the world of public-interest organizations.